title: Changes in the ceramide composition of rat forebrain gangliosides with age.
abstract: Five major gangliosides (GM1, GD1a, GD1b, GT1b, and GQ1b) were extracted and isolated by normal-phase HPLC from the forebrain of Sprague-Dawley rats of ages ranging from 3 days to 24 months. Each ganglioside was fractionated by reverse-phase HPLC into the molecular species carrying a single long-chain base moiety. At all ages, the C18:1 and C20:1 long-chain base species predominated, whereas the C18:0 and C20:0 ones represented 1-3% of the total. The C18:1 long-chain base species, predominant at 3 days (91-96%), diminished with age and reached, at 2 years, 73%, 65%, 61%, 59%, and 45% of the total for GD1a, GM1, GT1b, GD1b, and GQ1b, respectively. The content of the C20:1 long-chain base species, low at birth (4-9%), increased with age in all gangliosides and reached, at 2 years, 27-55% of the total. The developmental behavior of the ganglioside species containing the C18:1 long-chain base was characterized by the following: (a) a biphasic profile with a maximum around 15 days for GD1a, the most abundant ganglioside at all ages; (b) an increase until 6 months for GM1; (c) a sharp decrease until 30 days, followed by leveling for GT1b; and (d) a low, constant level for GD1b and GQ1b. All the ganglioside species containing the C20:1 long-chain base showed a constant increase during development, the increase being more marked in the first 30 days.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, Medical School, University of Milan, Italy.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Palestini
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Masserini
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Sonnino
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Giuliani
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Tettamanti
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D000831:Animals, Newborn; D001921:Brain / Q000254:growth & development*; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D002236:Carbohydrate Conformation; D002240:Carbohydrate Sequence; D002518:Ceramides / Q000032:analysis*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid; D005227:Fatty Acids / Q000032:analysis; D005732:Gangliosides / Q000302:isolation & purification*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051381:Rats
chemical_list: D002518:Ceramides; D005227:Fatty Acids; D005732:Gangliosides